Mobo is Daid, now what do I do?

[Worf101]

Hokay folks my Mobo has officially chit da bed. Here's what I built in 2004.

AMD Athlon 64Fx-53

HIS Excalibur X800 XT PE with IceQ II Cooling
Asus A8V Deluxe VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset ATX AMD MB
1 Gig of OCZ 3500 unbuffered Ram
2 Western Digital 74 Gig Raptors in Raid 1
DVD ASUS 16X DVD
DVD+/-RW PLEXTOR|PX-712A
CPU FAN Thermaltake Silentboost K8
Cooler Master Wave Master Case
Antec NeoPower 480 Watt PSU
SB Audigy 2Z Platinum Sound Card
Dell Ultrasharp 2005FPW 20.1 Wide Flat Panel

So, dese are the conditons that pervail. So I'm looking for advice on what to do next. I figure I've the following options.

1. By a new or used Mobo and carry on.

2. Sell the video card and take the dive into Crossfire or SLI.

3. Get another Mobo, put the old stuff in my kids rig and build a whole new one.

4. Get out of puter building and gaming and deal with "real" life. :roll:

What do you folks think and thanks in advance for your support.

Da Worfster.

 

[maxxum]

Buy new motherboard, 1 more gig of memory and upgrade video card. Dual video cards IMO is a waist of money. Spending twice as much for a 3-15% increase in performance in my book just isn’t worth it.

 

[Worf101]

Buy new motherboard, 1 more gig of memory and upgrade video card. Dual video cards IMO is a waist of money. Spending twice as much for a 3-15% increase in performance in my book just isn’t worth it.

I'm not sure 4 sticks of ram will work on that board. I'd have to dump my current and go with 2 sticks of one gig a piece. As for the videocards... there's only one ATI AGP card that's any faster.... that's the X850 XT PE. I spent too much on my current card to dump it like dat. But thanks for the suggestions.

Da Worfster

 

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

Well, sure as hell dont go for option 4, what fun would that be?

As for the other options, how much money do you have to spend? Looks like you are leaning for building a new machine. if you have the money, go for it!

BTW, how do you like your dell monitor? I have the same one that I upgraded from a 21" CRT and i will never go back!

EDIT: I had the same thing that happend to me. I had a athlon 64 2800+ w/ a 6600Gt. the mobo went up on me, so i decided to to a total mobo/cpu/vid card upgrade when i could have just switched mobos. I now have a x-2 3800+/asus A8N-E/x1800xl. i couldnt be happier

 

[chunkymonster]

Given those option, I would...

Always go with #3
Never go with #4

Enjoy!

 

[Wulf]

I go with #3. And #4? No <bleeping> way.

 

[llama_man]

Buy new motherboard, 1 more gig of memory and upgrade video card. Dual video cards IMO is a waist of money. Spending twice as much for a 3-15% increase in performance in my book just isn’t worth it.

I'm not sure 4 sticks of ram will work on that board. I'd have to dump my current and go with 2 sticks of one gig a piece. As for the videocards... there's only one ATI AGP card that's any faster.... that's the X850 XT PE. I spent too much on my current card to dump it like dat. But thanks for the suggestions.

Da Worfster

But you'll be getting a new board...

I think nForce boards support 4 DIMMS, you just won't have them running dual channel.

I'm going to be the party pooper and suggest getting yourself a new o/c-friendly m/b (if you can get one cheap - look out for end-of-line or B-grade) and another Gb of RAM. Use that until you do a complete m/b, CPU and GFX upgrade. An X800 should last you a little while longer?

 

[Worf101]

Well, sure as hell dont go for option 4, what fun would that be?

As for the other options, how much money do you have to spend? Looks like you are leaning for building a new machine. if you have the money, go for it!

BTW, how do you like your dell monitor? I have the same one that I upgraded from a 21" CRT and i will never go back!

EDIT: I had the same thing that happend to me. I had a athlon 64 2800+ w/ a 6600Gt. the mobo went up on me, so i decided to to a total mobo/cpu/vid card upgrade when i could have just switched mobos. I now have a x-2 3800+/asus A8N-E/x1800xl. i couldnt be happier

Thanks for the love folks. I'm leaning towards getting an AsRock board as a stopgap. It'll run my current AGP card and I can "bump it up" to PCI-e on the same board when the rig starts wheezing in a couple of years. I do complete overhauls every 4 years or so. So I ain't quite ready to spring for a "new rig" . Particularly with a new OS on the horizon, AMD vs. Intel heating up AND Crossfire putting the heat on as well. Should be sorted out in abput 2 years so the upgrade minor tweaking up grade path is looking got to me right now.

As for my Dell 2005FPW, it's about the best money I've spent on myself in a decade. What a wonderful monitor. Wonder what the 35-inch monster is like.

Da Worfster

 

[KWH]

Grab a better board and video card, sell your old video card feep on keeping on. I'm 40 years old and still love gaming.

"As for my Dell 2005FPW, it's about the best money I've spent on myself in a decade. What a wonderful monitor. Wonder what the 35-inch monster is like. "

Love mine! :lol:

 

[maxxum]

My daughters computer has an AsRock Dual, great board IMO if you want to keep the video card for a while (until Vista comes out). And yes, I would just upgrade to 2 sticks of 1GB memory to take advantage of Dual-Channel. Its a budget board so it won't be as fast as some of the 200+ boards, but you'll be hard pressed to 'see' the difference. If you plan on upgrading your VC in another month then the AsRock may not be optimal then - I would just wait in that case. My daughters computer still uses a 6600GT and its pretty zippy and can play most games at at least mid levels.

 

[EllisD420]

I second the motion for the ASRock dual mobo. When i built it, i had an ati 9800 AIW AGP and a 3500+. Now, because of the boards upgrade friendly design, i have an Opty 165 paired with a 1900xt. Another thing thats nice about this board, is the expansion card that you can buy (well not quite yet, but soon) to upgrade to AM2 when it comes out. This is a great budget board to bridge the gap between major upgrades and the performance difference between this and a $200 board shouldnt be too noticeable. Good Luck.